John sullivan



(No Model.)

J. SULLIVAN.

TROLLEY WHEEL.

No. 453,093. Patented May'26, 1891.

W/TNESSE S.' V HVVENTOH.

@700 ,Su/LZ 600/2 7 W BY W A TTORNEYS UNITED STATES a PATENT FFIClE.

JOHN SULLIVAN, OF \VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

TROLLEY- WHEEL..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 453,093, dated May 26, 1891.

Application filed February 19, 1891. Serial No. 882,071. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN SULLIVAN, of \Vashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Trolley-Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

In operating electric railways which employ the overhead system of conductors it is often difficult andsonietilnes impossible when the conducting-wire is coated with ice or very damp snow that has become compacted and frozen, to secure a good contact between such Wire and the trolley-wheel through which the current is transmitted to the motor beneath the car.

It is the object of my invention to provide a trolley-wheel so constructed that it will break up and dislodge such coat or covering of ice or snow and make a perfect mechanical and electrical contact, thus enabling the motor to propel a car at the usual uniform speed.

In carrying out my invention I provide the trolley-wheel with toothed or corrugated portions adjacent to a central and intervening circular portion that runs in contact with the overhead-wire conductor.

Details will be now described, with reference to accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view showing my trolleywheel applied to a conductor as usual in practice. Fig. 2 is a cross-section, enlarged, on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan or face view of certain portions of the trolley-wheel. Fig. at is an edge View of a trolley-wl1eel having a central or hearing portion adapted for use when the conductor is free of ice or snow.

The trolley-wheel A is made in parts, but has the usual outturned flanges a a, separated by a peripheral groove, whose bottom constitutes the bearing that runs in contact with an overhead conductor B. In this case such bearing is a disk 1, having a thin beveled edge. On each side of it 1) and adjacent to a flanged portion a d isarranged a disk 2, having its periphery provided with teeth, which project slightly beyond the edge of the contact-disk 1, and are beveled inward to adapt them to work close to the conductor B, as shown in Fig. 2. Each of these toothed disks 2 is separated from the central or contact disk 1 by means of a washer or thin fiat plate 3, which is of considerably less diameter than the toothed disks 2, for a purpose hereinafter stated. Said washers may also be varied in thickness if it be desired to place the toothed disks 2 nearer or farther from each other.

The several parts 1, 2 2, and 3 3 are mounted on the sleeve or tube Z), constituting the hub of the wheel A. One of the flanged portions 0. is keyed fast on such hub 11 and the other a screws on its free end, thus clamping the several disks firmly together, yet permitting them to be readily removed when worn and others substituted.

In practical operation the trolley-wheel A is pressed against and runs along the conductorB in the usual way, so that the toothed portions 2 2 work in contact with and break up and dislodge the adhering coat of ice or compacted snow, thus enabling the central disk 1 to work constantly in perfect contact with the conductor 13 and insuring steady transmission of the propelling-current to the car-motor. A portion of the ice or snow thus broken up passes into the peripheral spaces or grooves, Fig. 2, formed between the teeth of disks 2 2 and the disk 1,so that the contact of the latter is rendered more easy and certain.

I proposein some cases to provide the central disk 1 with a toothed edge instead of a continuous one.

The contact-disk 1 and toothed disks 2 2 may be made of any suitable metal; but I generally employ brass for this purpose.

In Fig. 4 a solid central bearing-block is shown substituted for the disks 1 2 and plates 3 for use in ordinary weather when no coat of ice or compacted snow adheres to the conductor B. The substitution may be quickly effected by screwing off the flanged piece a.

\Vhat I claim is- 1. A trolley-wheel for an overhead electrical conductor, having toothed portions in the bottom of its peripheral groove, as and for the purpose specified.

2. A grooved trolley-Wheel for an overhead conductor, having a 'centralcontact portion and circular-toothed portions laterally adjacent thereto, as and for the purpose specified.

3. The improved grooved trolley-wheel for use with an overhead conductor, the same having a thin-edged central circular portion which runs in contact with said conductor having" teeth whose edges are beveled or inclined inward toward each other, substantially as shown and described.

6. The improved trolley-Wheel composed of the several separable parts specified-namely, the two outer flanged portions a a, the

contiguous peripherally-t0othed disks, the

Washers or spacing-disks, and the central or contact disk, secured together substantially as shown and described.

JOHN SULLIVAN.

Witnesses:

AMOS W. HART, SoLoN O. KEMON. 

